Sad Day

I was going to post today about the price of gas but it will have to wait for another day. This morning when I logged on the internet I was slammed with the news that Staff Sergeant Keith Matthew Maupin's body had been recovered in Iraq. As many of you know he was captured in April 2004. While there was a video of a person with a hood being executed there was never any proof that it was in fact Matt. This gave America hope that he would be returned home alive. You may be surprised to know that when Matt was taken hostage he was a Private First Class (E-3). The Army Reserve Command made sure that PFC Maupin was advanced to Specialist when he would have been eligible. His promotion packet for Sergeant and then Staff Sergeant was presented to the promotion board just as if he were present for duty. His family has been taken care of for the past 4 years. Now that he has been positively identifed then his family will hace closure. There will be no more wondering. If you get the chance today, stop and say a prayer for Matt. Soldier On Staff Sergeant Maupin!

What I did on my day off (so far)

I work a schedule so I get every other Friday off. I had never done that in any of my other jobs (was not offered) but now that I work for the VA they allow compressed schedules. I work 9 hour days Mon-Thur and then 8 on Fri and get alternating Fridays off. Since I don't earn as much vacation as Iwould like it makes it nice to get three day weekends. Sometimes longer if they coinside with a holiday. ANYWAY, today being my day off is supposed to be my sleep in day. Did I get to sleep in? NOOOOOO. Daughter calls every morning around 6:45 when she is on her way to the hospital. I reminded her last night that this was my Friday off. Who called this morning? YEP! A1C Shay! Now don't get me wrong. I LOVE talking to my daughter and I am so excited that in 6 days I will get to see her, live and in person, that I am beside myself. But please...it was my day off. Another thing that kept me from sleeping in is that hubby scheduled his military physical for today so he had to get up early anyway. And it seems that I am the alarm clock. So I was up at 6:45 because my phone rang and then I continued to be up because hubby was getting ready. So I got the dogs up and took them outside to potty and then dragged them back to bed with me. They are such bed hogs. I don't know how people do it of a full time basis. We have a queen size bed and they were literally on top of me.

Well, we got up around 8:30 and then I had to take Binde to the vet for her comprehensive exam. Everything looks great, she has lost a couple of pounds (wish I could say the same) and she got her anal glands expressed. DO NOT ASK ME TO EXPLAIN. So all the dogs got to go with (I have three) and we walked around Petsmart and got new chew toys and treats. Now they are all exhausted and sleeping.

Tomorrow we have a dog show in Palmetto, FL. Not too far which means we do not have to stay in a hotel. I have decided that this is the deadline for Binde to prove herself. If she doesn't get at least a point this time then I am going to hold her back until she matures a little. She is such a puppy! She won't pay attention and looks everywhere but at the judge.

I guess now would be a good time to go to the grocery store so I will sign off for now.

Blogging again

I should just plan on a weekly blogging session because I can't seem to find anything to write about everyday like other bloggers I know. Easter pretty much sucked because Shay was in Ohio (alone) and I was stuck here in Florida. Hubby and I went to the Outlet Mall, had lunch and Sonic and then frozen pizza for dinner later. See, very boring. Shay ironed BDU's and watched movies.

She got excited on Sunday evening when she found out that someone from her baby flight currently in Phase 2 at Keesler got orders for MacDill. Shay was hoping that this gal would want to trade her for Travis AFB. But she got her hopes up and then dropped yesterday when she found out that the girl did not want to trade. It would have been perfect for me to have her at MacDill. Even if she had to maintain a room in the dorm she could still sleep at home. Plus with hubby leavig in July for 10 months it would have been nice to have her home with me. I know she should get out on her own and that being at Travis will be good for her but it is sooooooo far from Florida.

9 days to go and I will get to visit with her. She wants me to bring her some homemade chilli. Can I take frozen food on an airplane? It is only a 2 hour flight so if it was frozen and in a cooler it would make it to her no problem. I just have to find out if I can take it on the plane. If anyone knows please let me know. Thanks

Also, if you feel like sending her a note of support that would be great. She is feeling a little down right now and could use some chearing up.

A1C Sharayah Farrell
5535 Hemlock Street
Bldg 1212, Box 326
WPAFB, OH 45433

Gotta get back to work.

Student of the Month

I am so proud of my Airman. She has been nominated for Student of the Month. Seems her Section Supervisor handed her a document and asked her to take it to another office and oh, by the way, you can read it. What a boost to her morale. Thank you SRA Spangler!!!

It is 14 days until I see my Shay Shay face to face and get to hug her. I am so excited! I just hope that the base is still there when I get there. They have been having so much rain this week.

I made a bunch of Easter goody bags and sent them to Shay to give to her classmates. It is hard being away from home for any holiday and I just wanted to put a smile on their faces. I plan to take them out to pizza when I am there to visit.

How do you get rid of a rabbit? We have this rabbit that insists on hanging out in my yard. You would think that with three dogs that do their bodily functions in the yard that the rabbit would stay away. But NOOOOOOO. And do you know what happens when a rabbit sits in your yard? They leave little presents that my dogs then find it necessary to eat. This in turn makes them sick. Last night Hubby went out and created some kind of snare to try to catch the rabbit. If he catches the rabbit in this manner it will not be a nice thing. I told him I did not want the rabbit killed. We can't leave the snare out there for our dogs to get caught in either. What to do? If anyone has any ideas please let me know.

American Idol
Can you believe that Rocker Chick got voted off? I can't. I do not believe that she deserved to be gone this early. She wold not have won, but is way better than some of the other top 10. And now she won't be on the Idol Tour. I bet the producers are po'd.

Well, I have to get back to work. I hope everyone has a good day. Stay Dry!

It Is Too Damn Hot

I know some of you up north are going to hate me for what I am about to say. But I have to say it. It is too damn hot here right now and has been all day. Right now in my house it says it is 78 degrees. It is 9:15pm Sunday night. It is not supposed to be that hot. Everyone told me I would love Florida this time of year. NOT

On the other hand, not sure if I would want 8 feet of snow in my back yard either. But I don't like it this hot. I am sitting here sweating and I have already taken my shower.

The dogs have not been able to do anything all day because it was so hot. Of course, hubby says it is too early to turn on the air conditioner. How am I ever going to sleep in this heat?

Talked with Shay quite a bit today. She was cleaning her car and then driving around Dayton. Just looking. These are the conversations I love. Just her talking about stuff, what her plans for the future are. How she wants to go to Iraq. WHAT?!?!?!?!? Yes, she wants to do a tour in Iraq. I guess on Friday they all had lunch with a group that had just returned and all of them said how much then enjoyed it and would like to go back. Some of them (Medical Lab Techs) got cross trained as Security Forces. I made her promise me she would not "volunteer" for this duty. I understand if she is voluntold, but do not volunteer.

Well, I guess I am going to go take another shower to try and cool down. Have a good evening.

Guess What Shay did today

My lovely daughter went rock climbing with the guys today. Sounds like something I would have done when I was younger. I tried to paste this link so you would see the YouTube screen, like everyone else seems to know how to do, but I don't know how. I am not that techno literate. If someone wants to give me instructions that would be great. Anyway, here is a video link to the place that she went and some pictures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knQkC5KLLXc

She said they had a blast. They give you a class first and then you become "certified" so the next time you go you do not have to take the class.

And what did mom do all day....clean. Hubby had to work so I got all the fans dusted, floors swept and mopped and rugs vacuumed and 1 load of laundry done. Why only one load, because I ran out of detergent. I shop at Costco! How could I run out of detergent? So guess where I have to go today? I also plan to go to Kinkos to copy fo pictures and scan some old ones into digital.

Two Days in a Row

WOW! I am impressing myself. Here I am posting two days in a row. I know I did so in the beginning but there was much going on at that time. It was Christmas and I was waiting for Shay to come home for the holidays from Air Force Tech School.

American Idol

I guess I am not really surpised that David Hernandez was voted off last night. While he may sound ok he was not much of a performer.

I actually agree with all of the bottom three. What is your prediction for next week? I predict: ......Kristy

Then my next coice would be Syesha.

Anyone want to place a bet?

Wnat to see what my daughter send me via email last night? She must not believe she is in the Air Force because she sure can't afford these babies. Coach Shoes/Sandles. These things cost a car payment.

This one came in this morning. Does she get up and search for shoes? At least this pair does not cost an arm and a leg.

One of the guys I work with is from Cleveland and has given me some great ideas of places to visit while I am visitng Shay in Ohio. The Rock-n-Roll Museum, Browns Statium, House of Blues., etc. What do you all think? Any ideas?

Have a great day cuz I gotta get back to work.

3 Weeks To Go

Only three weeks to go before I hop on a plane and go visit my daughter in Ohio!! I am so excited. We are going to go to a dinner theater while I am there. Perhaps we will visit Cleveland and Cincinnatti. All I really care about is spending time with her. Even if we only sat and watched tv together it would be fine with me.


Last night I was very sad. I had just gotten home, had not even changed clothes yet, hubby and I were talking and catching up. Well the neighborhood kids were outside playing and out door bell rang. My thought was ball in the back yard. Nope, they wanted to tell me there was a dog out there and it was in my garage (I had left the door open). So I go outside to check it out. This poor dog. Just made me want to cry. He has mange so bad that he has lost most of his hair. He was bleeding from one of his paws. He looked like he had not eaten in a long time. He had infections in both eyes and probably both ears and he stubk so bad that he had nats flying around him. Oh, and he looked like he had tumors all over. He was just so sweet. He walked up to my front door and looked in like he wanted to come in. Well, I could not let him in because he had the mange so bad and I could not take a chance on my dogs getting it. So we get the phone book so I could call the Animal Control. While I am getting the number he starts walking down the block. I tried calling him and he would nto come so I followed him. He went to another house (same color door as me) and just staired at it. I get a hold of Animal Control and am told that an officer would call me back. I don't want to lose site of him so when he starts walking down the block again I followed. Again, he went up to another house with a red door. Something tells me he must have lived at a house with that color door. While he is staring at the door an young man comes out an dI explain the whole thing to him. Well, the dog started walking and went back to the other house and just stared at the door. While the young man watched the dog I went back to my house and got food and a leash and put water out. My intent was to get him to come back to my house so I could secure him by my mailbox and wait for animal control. This dog would not come with me on the leash but he would stay where he was and eat. When he was done we tried again to get him to come back with me to my house. He finally moved for the boy. We got him to my house and used a rope to secure him to my mailbox. He would not drink any water and he would not lay down. I think it hurt him to lay down. He tried to scratch himself because of the nats but could not stand on three legs long enough to do it. The officer finally called me back and got directions to my house. We waited with the dog until they arrived. The dog seemed eager to get in the van and go for a ride but could not make it on his own. The control officer had to lift him and that was the first time I heard the dog make a sound because I know it must have hurt him.


I am afraid to call to check on him because I just know that the most humain thing to do would be to put him down. Why do people do this? It is like he was abandoned because he was sick. Don't people know that if they took him to the pound he would get medical treatment and have a chance of being adopted if it is done before it gets out of hand?


I cried! And I told my three dogs that they don't realize just how good they have it.


Thanks for letting me vent.

A Week (almost 2) in review

I am such a bad blogger. It has been over a week since I last posted. I guess I don't do much to talk about. Since I returned from Australia I have been extremely busy at work. Which of course I love. I hate not being busy. I have been given more tasks with increased responsibility. So in the words of Sally Field "They like me, they really like me". Not sure if I meantioned this before but I am what is called a Temp. I was hired to fill a temporary need and my "contract" is for 1 year, not to exceed 2 years. Well, they have been telling me that they are going to make me a permanent and that my boss (the auditor) is supposed to be writing the position description. Well, it has been months since they first told me about this and still nothing. Since the Director has been detailed to Washington DC, the Acting Director has gotten things going. She asked our Regulation Guru (Guy) to write the PD and within hours he had the most amazing position description written. It is for a GS7 (government speak) AND he wrote it so that after one year I will be upgraded to a GS9. How great is that? I won't even have to apply for a promotion. And I have been working my butt off (hence no blogging) that I have gotten all the programs caught up with their rate increases so the Acting Director (did I tell you I just love her?) told me she was putting me in for a merit bonus. That is pretty cool.


What can I tell you about Shay? She has been stuck in the dorm all weekend. Ohio has been inundated with so much snow (not as much as Hallie, I know) and the storm came in on Friday so they sent them all home early. Here is a picture from yesterday morning looking out her door.

I know it is hard to make things out. Those are cars on the left and that is a fence around a field. She has been so bored. She can't even get her car out of the parking lot to go rent movies.

Last weekend I organized a French Bulldog Meetup. These guys just had a great time. Why is it that dogs can just tell when they are with like type dogs? Here are a couple of pictures from the event. Everyone that attended loved it so much that they can't wait for the next one.

Mine are the three black ones in the first row.
This little guy is only 4 1/2 month sold. I guess he was really thirsty!!

So I hope I made up for not posting for so long. I promise that I will try to find the time to post more often. That would mean that I would hacve to do something worth posting about though.